TV Series On The Television

[Niku]

I'm going through Twin Peaks for the first time. I've managed to avoid basically .. literally any knowledge about Twin Peaks except for the Simpsons Red Room gag with Lisa and Chief Wiggum and that there was a character named the Log Lady. And I'll probably have more to say about it overall in a few days.

But jeez, when you plow through the first two seasons in less than a week and then start watching season three, it is like a goddamn magic trick. "Oh wow everyone just suddenly aged 25 years". Binge watching the totality of something with a gap that large between entries just does something strange to the perception of what you're seeing, in a way my brain wasn't entirely ready for. (Though man, even waiting less than 24 hours between the finale of S2 and the premier of S3, I can imagine just how it felt for folks who had waited 25 years when the theme music kicked in during the premier of The Return.)

[Friday]

[Thad]

I'm still working through X-Files and have been surprised to discover that season 6 is actually good. I'm 11 episodes in and almost all of them have been good-to-great. There was one mediocre one (Skinner's mystery illness), and only one that I'd say was actually bad (devil babies), but that one had Bruce Campbell in it so it wasn't a total loss. Other'n that you've got some solid ones (Mulder on the '30s cruise ship) and some straight-up classics (the Bryan Cranston one, the two-parter where Mulder switches bodies with Michael McKean, and the Christmas episode with Lily Tomlin and Ed Asner as ghosts trying to convince Mulder and Scully to murder each other).

This is about the point where I quit watching during the original run. And you know, I can see what put me off about it at the time: this was where the show was super-popular and moved to LA and had completely lost the low-budget feel of the early seasons; it was also clear by this point that the "mythology" was just shit they were making up as they went along and there was no grand plan; and the season arc (Mulder and Scully get kicked off the X-Files, which mostly means that they have a new boss, The Chief from Every Cop Show who dresses them down for investigating X-Files when they're supposed to be doing boring background checks) is downright tedious. But most importantly, I quit watching it because MST3K moved to the same timeslot.

Anyway, though, while I can definitely see the weaknesses that helped put me off the show, watching season 6 again now it's actually not half-bad.

Millennium really takes a nosedive in quality in season 3, though, as it tries to be more like X-Files.

[Bal]

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

[Niku]

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

woah i never knew the theme song had lyrics

[Mothra]

The new Doom Patrol is wonderful.

The most important thing is that it is batshit, embracing all the weirdness and far-flung meta concepts of the comic book, in the same way CW's Flash did when faced with the goofier parts of the comic book mythos.

I cannot get over how much I love Robotman in this show. I know it’s mostly Brendan Fraser doing great, natural voicework and emoting, but part of it is also how, like, clunky and inarticulate his body is. I don’t think it would work quite as well if any part of his body but his eyes actually moved.

I love how they made being Robotman seem absolutely horrific, living as this stiff ugly corpse, with Cliff just trying not to lose it for years. It's great.

Anyways, we're three episodes in, and I'm already fully invested in like every character, so, so far so good.

[Thad]

I'm reading the book and it's delightful. I'll probably write more about it in the Books thread at some point, but I don't remember the last time I laughed out loud at a book. I am looking forward to this.

[Mongrel]

[Büge]

:D

[Thad]

Complete first episode of the new Twilight Zone on YouTube (link because embedding is disabled)

It's not great. But it's got potential. And you know what? The original series wasn't always great either. The Twilight Zone is one of those shows like Flying Circus where its highs were so goddamn good that we forget just how much dross we had to sit through in-between.

Anyway, it's sure got some good talent attached, and I figure I'll stick around for at least a bit. I've seen some critics say that the third episode is where it gets good. (The fourth episode is written by Glen Morgan. He does good work, though I must admit I'd be more excited if I saw his brother Darin's name in the credits.)

[Thad]

Watched the first episode of What We Do in the Shadows. It's got potential. Not as good as the movie so far (or as the other TV spinoff, Wellington Paranormal, which AFAIK still hasn't been released in the US through any legal channel), but it's got a good cast, including IT Crowd's Matt Berry and a guest appearance by Doug Jones.

[Niku]

I can say with some certainty that there will never be a show that means more to me than Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has. The finale was perfect.

[Thad]

I'll probably have a lot more to say about Good Omens over time, but my most immediate thought is, I think this may be David Tennant's greatest performance. I love him in everything, but he just kills it here.

[Niku]

do you too miss hannibal?

do you wish that hannibal was even more super gay

do you wish that it was super lady gay instead

do you want fiona shaw to play nick fury

all this and more can be yours when you watch killing eve

[Thad]

That post reads much weirder if your brother's name is Hannibal.

[Niku]

it's really time you got over your pearl clutching and embraced his super lady gayness

[beatbandito]

I can't believe Thad's brother is Hannibal Buress and he's pulling a reverse-ScarJoh!

[Thad]

They're taking another crack at adapting Hitchhiker's Guide.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is making the leap to the small screen. Hulu is developing a new TV series adaptation of the popular science fiction series penned by Douglas Adams.

So far, the production team includes Carlton Cuse as showrunner and Jason Fuchs as feature writer. Cuse’s television credits include Lost, Bates Motel, The Strain, and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, while Fuchs did story work on Wonder Woman and provided the screenplay for Ice Age: Continental Drift.

[Mothra]

Finished season 2 of Castlevania. Absolutely loved it.

What a great, well-done series. Still floored it came out as good as it did.

[Mothra]

So, I watched all of Swamp Thing for some strange reason.

I got to episode 10, and the show just straight up ends, two episodes from the finale. I assume they got the axe before these two were put into production. So yeah, didn't even get a full season. Rough stuff.

Overall, the show has its charms - particularly the setting and the main guy playing Swamp Thing - but wow is the dialog awful, often, and the action uninspired. Characters will have exchanges that are stunningly stilted and ham-fisted, frequently saying things that make me shake my head in disbelief. Not quite bad enough to recommend as a "so bad it's good", just, man, not great.

The last big action scene has a squad of PMC soldiers go into the swamp to kill Swamp Thing, then do the "my god... we're not hunting him... he's hunting US! " bit before they proceed to shoot wildly and uselessly at CG vines until they all die.

There is one concept I like a lot - that the Swamp Thing can see and communicate with anyone who is taken by the swamp, so he has this kind of swamp purgatory he can visit to talk with vanquished foes. You could see signs of a better show a season or so down the line.

At the end of the day, Swamp Thing was not as bad as Teen Titans, but it's real down there as far as live-action DC goes.

Highlight of the show was Kevin Durand as the Floronic Man, who I thought nailed the part.

OH, and holy fuck, The Blue Devil appears. They started that plotline and were going all the way with it, and holy shit did that look promising. We get two or three scenes with the character before the show went down.